The musings of a politically incorrect dinosaur from a forgotten age where civility was the rule rather than the exception.

Webster

The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions." --American Statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852)

Monday, December 3, 2012

November Rain...Guns and Roses

When this song first came out, it was considered a "Power Ballad", I really liked the encompassing sound and the video was really good with the traditional Orchestra mixed in. It is one of those songs that you play loud...if for no other reasons to hear the different pieces of the orchestral band in the background.

information compliments of "wiki"

Its distinct symphonic overtone owes to a sweeping string arrangement, orchestrated by Rose.[1][2]:318 Most live performances during the Use Your Illusion tour lacked the orchestral backing of the song (the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards being the best-known exception).
It is the longest song to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.[3] The song peaked at #3 on the chart, becoming the band's sixth and last Top 10 hit, and eighth Top 40 hit. On the radio, "November Rain" is sometimes played in a shortened version of approximately six minutes, but many classic rock stations continue to play the full version. At around seven minutes in, the song fades and then builds into a two-minute coda featuring lead guitar by lead guitarist Slash, accompanied by vocal chants. This song is listed at number six in the The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos list by Guitar World.[4] This song is also rated #9 in the Richter Scale best songs of all time. "November Rain" was voted #1 on the Rock 1000 2006, an annual countdown of the top 1,000 rock songs by New Zealand radio listeners. It was voted #2 on the Rock 1000 2007, being beaten out by "Back in Black" by AC/DC.[5] The song was placed at #140 on Pitchfork Media'sTop 200 Tracks of the 90s.[6]

Music video

Composite image of the iconic wedding dress from the "November Rain" music video worn by Stephanie Seymour.

The narrative quality of the music video accentuated the epic nature of the song. The video (directed by Andrew "Andy" Morahan)[7] portrays Rose marrying his then-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour,
intercut with a live performance in a theatre. Particularly, it can be
noted for its large budget (about $1.5 million, including Seymour's
dress, worth $8,000) and sweeping cinematography, which won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography. It is one of the most expensive music videos ever.[8] Slash is prominently featured in some of the video's most memorable scenes, including a sequence of helicopter shots
swooping around him as he plays the first guitar solo and a later scene
where he plays the third solo while standing on Rose's piano onstage.
Casting coordinator Mark Roberton observed; "the camera-man had a lot of
responsibility, as the crane-cam was so close to Slash, precariously
stood atop a piano that was near the stage edge. One wrong twitch and
the guitarist would've had a long drop!" The video for "November Rain"
uses the full version of the song as opposed to an abridged version. Orpheum Theater, a theater in downtown Los Angeles
was acquired for an evening shoot that went several hours into the
night, and, unlike usual common practice, they didn't mime for any of
the takes. Between several differing versions of "November Rain", while
the cameras on cranes that swooped close to Slash's frets were reviewed
and set up for the next shot – the band entertained the 1,500 extras by
playing more of their songs.
For the outside shots of Slash while he is playing the first solo,
Rose had originally envisioned it taking place in a "cool field" of
sorts. However, since the video was shot in winter, there were no
good-looking fields around, and eventually the band decided to use a
church in New Mexico. Coincidentally, this was the same church used in the movie Silverado.[9]
Brad Hartmaier art directed the New Mexico
sequences at the Silverado Movie Ranch. Working from sketches he made
while sitting in the hotel bar, Hartmaier managed to build and dress two
church sets. The Exterior church set was a dilapidated old church that
he trucked out to the middle of a large prairie. Multiple crews worked
for 24 hours straight building a duplicate church complete with fly away
walls, hand made cathedral windows and decorations befitting the
southwestern region where it was shot. Hartmeier was in the church with a
walkie-talkie with Slash as a helicopter circled above for the big
shot. Slash asked him what he did and he replied, "I'm the art director slash prop man, slash painter, slash mad scientist." Slash quickly replied with a chuckle..."Ha ha, I'm just Slash." Hartmeier later said of working on the video, "It was the best experience of my life."
Nigel Phelps was the original Art Director; Hartmaier took his place
when Phelps moved onto a feature film during the later part of the
making of the video.
The priest in the video, an Italian
man named Gianantonio, was a friend of Rose. Unbeknownst to the band,
the church used for the interior shots was where the priest had
performed some of his last services, eight years prior to the shooting
of the video.
The music videos for "November Rain," "Don't Cry" and "Estranged" form an unofficial trilogy of sorts. While never specifically confirmed by the band, Rose and Del James have made statements supporting this idea.[10][11] The similarity in production, style and plots can be considered evidence of this intent.
As stated at the end of the video, "November Rain" is based on the
short story "Without You" by James, available in his 1995 book The Language of Fear. The story concerns a rock star grieving over the death of his on-and-off-again girlfriend, who had committed suicide (inspired by Rose's troubled relationship with Erin Everly).
While much speculation exists about how Seymour's character in the
video died, the relationship between the video clip and James' short
story strongly suggests that she kills herself. She appears looking
visibly troubled during one shot of the wedding and during the funeral
sequence, a mirror is visible, covering over half her face, a technique
used by funeral homes to allow victims of head trauma to have the
appearance of a full face in the event of an open casket funeral.
The video remained popular throughout the rest of the decade. At the
end of 1992, MTV placed "November Rain" at #1 on their top 100 videos of
that year. Subsequently, it often appeared at #1 or in the top 10 of
several future all-time MTV countdowns throughout the '90s. In addition,
the video was voted Best Video Clip in Metal Edge's 1992 Readers' Choice Awards.[12]

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